*Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Survive the Night follows Charlie, a young woman whose best friend has recently been brutally murdered. Through grief and fear of her own actions she makes the decision to go back home to seek comfort and recover. This is where she stops making sensible decisions and unfortunately chooses to accept a ride from a stranger. What happens next makes for a very long night for all those involved.

I really wanted to enjoy this. So so much the anticipation was unreal. Unfortunately for me that's where the excitement peaked. I thought the premise was extremely promising but the execution lacking.

The book is told in the form of a screen play with camera directions and cuts. While interesting, the switching became jarring at points and took away from the plot. It takes the unreliable narrator trope just too far where you wonder what the point is and all impact is lost.

Personally I feel movies played too larger a part in trying to form Charlie's personality. This made her an empty shell comprised of old movie references and stereotypical quirks. It also bothers me that her mental illness was never explained or explored. Instead it was just used as a convenient plot device to explain away unrealistic plot holes in the narrative.

As judgemental as the review sounds the book is fairly quick paced and easy enough to read. I just wish I understood all the 5 star reviews as I don't know whether to feel disappointed in myself or the book.

I got 50% into this but I’m afraid it just didn’t work for me. The protagonist came across as naive and I didn’t like the gaslighting elements. Also I read so much of the book and so little happened. Why did she get in the car with him, why did he bother driving her so far? This wasn’t believable to me and having heard such good things about this author I was unfortunately disappointed.

This is a Thriller. I found the beginning of this book hard to get into and a little boring, but once the book started to get really going I was pulled into the book. I loved the ending, and I did not see it coming. The characters where hard to like, but they where written to be like that. I did overall really enjoyed this book. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Dutton Books) or author (Riley Sager) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton, Hodder Paperbacks for this copy of Survive the NIght by Riley Sager.

Charlie is desperate to get home after a terrible few months and makes a decision to take a ride home from a virtual stranger. Charlie is running away from the death of her best friend and the threat of a serial killer on her college campus. She is leaving behind a dedicated boyfriend who doesn't want her to leave and running towards home and safety. Charlie doesn't know Josh, the man that has offered to drive her home in exchange for gas money and company. Is he who he claims to be or something far more sinister? Oh, and one other thing, Charlie sometimes mistakes the movies that run in her mind for reality so there's that as well. It all makes for one confusing and terrifying night for Charlie to try to survive and we just get to ride along and hope she makes it.

Survive the Night definitely lives up to the hype. It's a solid thriller with enough plot twists to keep even the most jaded reader engaged. I'll admit that I did not see the end coming and was happily surprised at the outcome. You'll think you know the end but you really won't. Survive the Night is not nearly as straightforward as it seems at the outset. This is a good read for anyone, not just thriller fans.

I loved Home Before Dark so I was pleased to try the author's new book. It's a thriller that's perfect for fans of suspense movies or true crime podcasts. An interesting premise that will do well. With thanks to the author, publisher and Net Galley for the chance to read an early copy.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for a review.

This was my second Riley Sager book and I loved this so much!
It had me from page one and the plot twists were really well done. I will say that No Exit by Taylor Adams was a better kind of stranded-with-a-killer book but that doesn’t mean this book itself will let you down if you’ve read No Exit.

I loved Charlie and was behind her 100%.

Survive the Night is the latest thriller from Riley Sager, set in 1991 it follows Charlie as she hitches a ride home from college with a friendly college boy. But things aren't quite as they seem, and Charlie begins to suspect she's stuck in the car with the campus killer, a serial killer that has terrorized campus for the past four years, and that she may be his latest victim.

This is my second Riley Sager book after Home Before Dark, and I actually think I preferred this one. I've heard some less than stellar reviews of this book but I think I almost benefitted from that as I went into this book with lower expectations than I otherwise might have done.

For me, the characters were surprisingly strong in this book. Typically in thrillers, I find the character a little lacking, especially as thrillers generally rely heaving on twist and turns and are therefore fairly plot heavy. However I found Josh to be a surprisingly strong character, like Charlie I was caught between liking him and a strong distrust of him. Charlie was a hard main character to connect to and there were definitely some questionable decisions from her at point, she never really felt like a 'real' person I suppose, but I still found myself rooting for her.

Onto plot, I guessed two of the major plot twists but many still caught me off guard, I thought the use of Charlie's fragile mental state was really well done where she found that she couldn't really trust her own memory really interesting, and made my question things all along.

The ending felt a little rushed, but wrapped up pretty nicely. And I like how the whole thing was a movie all along. Basically this wasn't a perfect thriller, but I read it in a day and it kept me gripped throughout.

This was basically a 90's slasher film as a book and it didn't disappoint. I did like this for the most part even if the story did get a little silly in places but it was still a fun ride. Charlie and Josh were an interesting pair and it was always a game about who was more reliable a narrator and who was the one lying to the reader. The final page or two were a little weak but i did appreciate the constant framing device that had been in play throughout and thought both worked together well.

Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at the campus ride board, each looking to share the long drive home to Ohio. Both have good reasons for wanting to get away.

For Charlie, it's guilt and grief over the murder of her best friend, who became the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer. For Josh, it's to help care for his sick father. Or so he says. Like the Hitchcock heroine she's named after, Charlie has her doubts. There's something suspicious about Josh, from the holes in his story about his father to how he doesn't seem to want Charlie to see inside the car's trunk.

As they travel an empty highway in the dead of night, an increasingly worried Charlie begins to think she's sharing a car with the Campus Killer. Is Josh truly dangerous? Or is Charlie's suspicion merely a figment of her movie-fuelled imagination?

—

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“People don’t want to admit that there are monsters in their midst, so the monsters continue to roman free and the cycle of violence and blame continues.”

This is the first Riley Sager book that I’ve read and I have to say, I enjoyed it. It has plenty of mixed reviews and that, at first, made me apprehensive to dive into this book. Set over one night, it has a minimal set of characters and settings, which for me, enhanced the story and allowed me to pick it up and put it down whenever I had the time.

It did take a while for the book to begin to develop but once it did, I really enjoyed it. As the pace sped up, I couldn’t stop reading. It made me want to yell at everyone I spoke to, about this book. However, the shock plot twist that comes at the end of every thriller was disappointing for me. I felt it was too far-fetched and moved away from the premise of the book.

That being said, this is a great book that I would recommend to all Thriller lovers!

Lights, Camera, Action: Survive the Night Rolls into Twisty Territory!

*Fade in*

Let’s set the scene: it’s the 1990s, it’s night and our main character is in a car with a man who may very well be a serial killer. It doesn’t help that she has a history of “seeing movies in her head” aka she’s not sure of what’s really playing out before her eyes. And if that sounds tense to you, you’d better climb in cos it’s gonna be one crazy ride.

Told uniquely in a movie-script style, I found it hard to be certain what was really playing out. With such an unreliable narrator, it’s easy to feel lost in the dark. I will admit that the style was somewhat distancing, making it hard to connect to the characters. Yet nonetheless I was gripped, as the story swerved in maddening directions and drove towards a bonkers conclusion.

As if through headlights, I could see some of the dangers coming, but Sager still pulled some curveballs. And WHAM-BAM-THANK-YOU-MA’AM those twists sent me into a tailspin! Skidding off into something of a melodramatic end, it may not have pleased every reader, but I have to say I was satisfied.

So, expect something a little bit larger than life, because this homage to movies does not hold back.

*Fade out*

*End credits*

4/5 bananas

Wow, what a journey that was! Not long after starting this book I thought I had the whole story figured out... turns out I couldn't have been more wrong! Each twist and turn left me pondering the many different directions that the story could take. The story centres around the main protagonist Charlie whose best friend Maddie has recently been murdered. Wracked with guilt and grief, Charlie makes the decision to head home to Ohio and shares the journey with a virtual stranger who may or may not be Maddie's murderer. It does start at a slower pace but very quickly ramps up to a point where I was desperately trying to get the end as I couldn't wait for all to be revealed. At times the decisions that Charlie makes are super frustrating, leaving you internally screaming "What are you doing?!" however the story wouldn't be what it is without them. Fantastic character development throughout and the nods to 90's culture are forever enjoyable. I can't wait to read more of Sager's work after this!

Thank you to Hodder books & Netgalley for the review copy of Survive the night.

This book takes place over one night in 1991 and is told in the form of a film script.
The story is told from the points of view of 4 different characters though my far the biggest chunk of the story is from the point of view of main character Charlie who is studying film at University and is grieving the death of her best friend/college roommate who was murdered two months ago by a serial killer known as the Campus killer. Charlie blames herself for abandoning her friend on the night of her death, is experiencing survivor guilt as well having long term mental health issues which leave her unable to differentiate between reality and the "movie" in her mind. Unable to cope, Charlie makes the decision to leave University and travel home to her grandmother & arranges a ride share with a stranger, Josh who she meets via a ride share board. Josh wants to travel at night & they are barely on the road before Charlie starts to have some big doubts about Josh, if that is even his real name.
But are her doubts even reasonable or is it all in her head? Is Josh a nice guy who happens to be driving to exactly where she needs to go or is he someone more sinister? Maybe even the Campus killer? He certainly seems to know a lot about the killings and about Charlie.

The story has lots of twists and an impending sense of doom. I can tell you now that not all the characters in this story are going to survive the night.

There are many references to Alfred Hitchcock films among other cinema references in this book and the entire plot is pretty Hitchcockian. I grew up watching Hitchcock films so I really enjoy this kind of twisty story.

Goodbye reading slump, hello Riley Sager!

For the last few months, for various reasons, my reading has completely slipped. I should have realised sooner – all I needed was a true edge-of-your-seat, popcorn thriller to get me racing through the pages again. And this was it.

No, this book isn’t perfect – it’s not deep, it’s exaggerated and unrealistic in places. But what a ride. This is by far the most addictive, unputdownable book I’ve read this year – and for saving me from a reading slump, I have to give it five stars.

I think part of the reason this book worked so well for me is that it’s set over a short period of time – around six hours in total, with a clever epilogue at the end. The story unfolds in real time, scene by scene – movie style.

We meet Charlie – named after a character in a classic thriller movie. After her best friend and college roommate was murdered by The Campus Killer, traumatised Charlie needs to get out of University fast. She doesn’t drive since her parents’ tragic car accident years before. So, she arranges a car share with a stranger she meets at the campus Ride Board, and they set off in the snowy night for a long ride.

This is a book you need to go into with as little information as possible – and it seems to be dividing reviewers. Because, in general, it is pretty formulaic. It reads like a thriller movie you might catch on TV. The heroine doesn’t always make the wisest decisions but I was rooting for her all the way. It’s littered with references to classic movies – Charlie is obsessed with them and studies film theory, not to mention she’s got the small problem of seeing ‘movies in her mind’ – hallucinations where she disassociates with reality due to the trauma in her past.

And not being able to trust your own mind really doesn’t help when you think you might be on a road trip with a serial killer. Or is she?

She’s Ellen Ripley.

She’s Laurie Strode.

She’s Clarice Starling.

She’s Thelma and Louise, kicking up dirt in a final fuck-you as they choose freedom over life.

You’ll have to read it to find out.

I’ve noticed this is one of the author’s least popular releases to date. I’ve read three of his novels and I rate this one the highest purely because I was glued to the pages.

So, go into it with an open mind, embrace the classic thriller movie vibe, and enjoy the ride.

Honestly, I don't know where to start with this .... I had such high expectations for this.

I am such a fan of Riley Sager's work and so I was really excited to be given the chance to review Sager's new novel. Like Sager's previous works, I flew through this in one sitting. I mean that, it took me about 4 hours to read this and I did enjoy it.

However, I had such high expectations of this which were sadly not completely met. I felt this book was almost two separate stories and the plot twist at the end ... well, I already guessed what it was going to be.

Overall, it was enjoyable but I feel some of Riley Sager's previous works are better.

I enjoyed this thriller and liked the 1990s music references in it.
Once the story got going I couldn’t put it down. Just when I thought I knew what was happening the book took another unexpected turn and kept me guessing until the end.
My only criticism would be that I found the pacing a little off. For me it moved too slowly at the beginning of the book but maybe this was the author’s way of putting me off the scent.

Thank You to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I'll preface this by saying I've only read one other book by Riley Sager (Home Before Dark) and I enjoyed it a lot, I thought the writing was solid and the creepy bits were genuinely creepy. This, unfortunately, wasn't for me.

It's set in 1991, for no reason that I can see other than the entire thing being inconceivable if anyone carried a mobile phone. There's really nothing else that dates it apart from a Nirvana song playing.

Charlie holds a lot of guilt about her friend Maddy. They ended on bad terms and then something horrific happened to Maddy, which Charlie finds it hard to deal with. Charlie wants to leave school for good and head cross-country to her Grandmother's house. She accepts a lift from a stranger (as you do) and off they go.

Of course the driver is a creep. Charlie begins to think he's the one who hurt Maddy - but can she trust herself considering she slips into "movies in her head" as a coping mechanism? She's one of the most unreliable narrators ever, which is annoying in itself, but throw in an almost unfathomable obsession with movies and a complete unwillingness to cop on, and you have a very annoying main character. We don't know what's real and what's not, nor does Charlie.

Parts of this book were genuinely creepy - the twenty questions thing made my skin crawl, but unfortunately the whole thing descended into madness towards the end and I just roared at the ending.

This would make a great film - one of those so-bad-it's-a-must-see ones that stars Nic Cage or Ray Liotta (any other Turbulence fans out there?). As a book, it's pure chaos.

This is my first Riley Sager book and unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations, having heard so much about his other books. Even suspending my disbelief, I couldn't get over protagonist Charlie's terrible decisions - it's very clear that she's written by a man. The constant 90s and movie references were exhausting, as well as Charlie's internal dialogue and the plot twists which made no sense. The characters' motivations weren't believable and they all lacked depth, and I hated the way Sager made Charlie an unreliable narrator through her hallucinations. The ending was unsatisfying too, but the story was a interesting concept and easy to read at least.

A binge-worthy, campy joy ride!

Buckle-up, Lock Every Door , and hang on tight for this one!

What you can expect- A campus killer on the loose, A girl (Charlie) meets stranger at ride board on campus, Girl accepts ride with stranger, Charlie's namesake is from a Hitchcock film (could there be a lesson here?), a diner on Dead River Road (wink), twists that may produce vertigo and some fun times spent in Sillyville, nothing too serious here, ignore all the red flags and ride along...

If this trip sounds like a rollercoaster you'd get on, you'll probably enjoy it as much as I did!

Thank you to the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
I liked this book. I didn't find it very unique but it did keep me entertained.
I do recommend this book if it's your type and your not looking for anything new and unique.

I am going to go with a 3.5 stars rounded up here. It annoyed me sometimes but at the same time I read it straight through and I was surprised by a twist at the end.

Charlie is a 20 year old college student whose best friend and roommate is killed two months earlier. Charlie blames herself because she left Maddy alone at a bar and went home without her. She never saw her again.

The stress of this has Charlie hallucinating and so she leaves school to head home for a while. Josh offers her a ride home and she accepts. What this fateful night of driving brings is the crux of the story.

I don’t want to give too much away here, but at first I was very frustrated with Charlie. The ending redeemed her for me, but I don’t know. These unreliable narrators get my goat. I will definitely read another book by this author because truly the book did fly by. Thanks so much to Netgalley, the publisher Hodder and Stoughton, and the author Riley Sager for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.